Ace Combat Zero: The Final Joust
by AtrumUnas
Summary: The battle between Cipher and Pixy over Avalon Dam. Galm versus Galm, Brother versus Brother. The Final Joust for the fate of the world.


Disclaimer: I do not own Ace Combat Zero

Disclaimer: I do not own Ace Combat Zero.

Summary: The battle between Cipher and Pixy over Avalon Dam. Galm versus Galm, Brother versus Brother. The Final Joust for the fate of the world.

**Avalon Dam**

A long pink laser shot across the overcast sky and slammed into PJ's F-16. The Falcon banked over uncontrollably and disappeared from view. The remaining F-15C gasped at the sudden disappearance of his teammate and quickly scanned the sky for the enemy that had shot him down.

"I've found a reason to fight… buddy." One thought flashed through the Demon Lord's mind at that moment… _Pixy…_

Two planes flashed by each other nearing the sound barrier. Cipher caught a wisp of red as he passed by the unidentified aircraft. "Standby Galm One," Eagle Eye's voice said over the radio. "We're analyzing the situation."

"Here comes the snow," Pixy's voice said.

"Pixy, what the hell are you doing!?" Cipher asked angrily as he banked around to see the enemy plane again.

"Those who survive a long time on the battlefield start to think they're invincible," Pixy continued. "I bet you do too buddy."

"Shoot down the enemy," Eagle Eye ordered. "I'll run a plane analysis and fill you in ASAP." Cipher shook himself and approached Pixy's plane. A pink laser shot towards him.

"Shit!" Cipher cursed as he was forced to bank away. He prolonged his turn to come onto Pixy's six as he overshot the Eagle. Pixy tried to turn away as Cipher closed in. Even as the Sidewinder growled in Cipher's ear, he closed in and switched to guns. A short burst slammed into the rear of the Laser Module between the enemy craft's tailfins. Pixy jettisoned the now useless weapon. The large black box decelerated towards Cipher's plane.

Cursing again the Demon Lord rolled over the falling debris, in the processing losing sight of the enemy plane. "Transmission from enemy craft detected," Eagle Eye reported. "He's controlling the V2 launch!"

_What the hell…_ Cipher thought. _Pixy's a part of A World with No Boundaries?_ "Pixy, are you with the terrorists?" A static message returned. "What the hell are you doing here?! You hate war and yet you've started yet another one!"

"Can you see any borders from here?" Pixy asked in response. "What have borders given us?" Pixy's craft came back into view from directly ahead. "We're going to start over from scratch. That's what V2 is for." A missile shot forth from Pixy's plane but wasn't shot at him. An enormous explosion filled the sky in front of him, forcing Cipher to dodge.

"Is that truly what you believe?" Cipher asked through a grunt as he came back around, Pixy hot on his tail. A missile shot towards the Eagle, normal Sidewinder. Cipher rolled over and dived, pulling out into a Split-S only twenty feet above the metal of Avalon Dam. The Sidewinder drifted off into the distance, unable to make the move.

Bullets flew over Cipher's canopy as Pixy rolled in behind him. "You've gotta fight for what you believe in," Pixy justified himself, trying to hit his former flight lead.

"What about PJ?" Cipher asked angrily, pulling away to avoid the deadly tracers. "The only thing he did was fight for what he believed in and you killed him for it!" As he spoke, Cipher pulled up and rolled into a Barrel Roll falling in directly behind Pixy.

"There's no mercy in war," Pixy explained, unfazed by the maneuver. He pulled away to dodge. "People live and people die, that's all there is to it." Grunting, Cipher pressed his flight stick, sending hot tracers across the sky to slam into Pixy's right engine. "It's time." Pixy suddenly decelerated, so quickly that he disappeared from view. Cipher hit his afterburners to get away should his former wingman decided to fire a missile at him.

Below them in the Dam facility, a cover slid aside and an ICBM launched into the sky. Cipher craned his neck to look at Pixy's plane. Solo Wing flew slowly and level as V2 rose into the sky behind him. At that moment, he looked more the Demon than Cipher did. "Damn it, confirmed launch of V2!" Eagle Eye cried.

"Too bad buddy," Pixy said monotonously. "This twisted game needs to be reset. We'll start over from 'zero' with this V2 and entrust the future to the next generation."

"This is AWACS, listen up Galm One. We've completed the analysis of the enemy craft. Its codename is Morgan. This plane is protected by an ECM defense system. Its only weak point is the front air intakes. You'll have to attack him head on." Cipher absorbed this information and turned onto a collision course. "Go, take down Morgan. You're the only one who can stop him. Demon Lord of the Round Table, I pray for your success."

The Eagle and Morgan closed in on each other. Cipher, finally making up his mind, fired a missile towards Pixy. The infamous ace simply rolled over lazily. "You and I are opposite sides of the same coin," Pixy droned as both turned around again. "When we face each other we finally see our true selves." The two planes passed again, unable to attack. "There may be a resemblance but we never face the same direction."

Cipher reversed faster than Pixy did and came in dead on. Words past him, Cipher accelerated towards his best friend and brother in arms. "Fire away coward!" Pixy challenged. The two planes closed in. A missile shot forth from Cipher's plane and lodged itself in Pixy's air intake. "Come on!" Morgan shot past at high speed; right wing cleaving through Cipher's left. Morgan exploded a mile away as Cipher fell into a tailspin.

Seeing the world spin around him, the Demon Lord didn't move. His Eagle fell faster and faster towards the cold Earth below. Despite Eagle Eye's vain cries, the pilot felt no need to save himself and was fully prepared to die until a voice crept into his ear. "Yo buddy, you still alive?"

Cipher thrust the throttle forward and struggled with his stick. As the plane increased in speed, the one-winged craft leveled out. Not really listening to AWACS congratulations, Cipher banked off towards the south, staring back at the parachute behind him…

**(End)**

I wrote this in about an hour and I think it turned out pretty well. Please review as always.


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